The present invention relates to a blood vessel detection apparatus for detecting a blood vessel, a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus for acquiring an image of a subject and detecting a blood vessel from the acquired image, and a program for detecting a blood vessel.
A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus for imaging a subject using a contrast medium is known. Methods of imaging a subject using a contrast medium include, as an example, a method in which an operator manually defines a slice (for example, an axial slice) intersecting an aorta, a cross-sectional image in the slice is displayed on a display screen in real time, and the operator checks whether or not a bolus of the contrast medium has flown into the aorta while observing the cross-sectional image displayed on the display screen. In this method, once the operator has decided that a bolus of the contrast medium has reached the aorta, an imaging sequence for acquiring an image of a body part to be imaged is performed. A contrast image of the imaged body part may thus be obtained.
The method, however, poses a problem that the operator's workload becomes higher because the operator has to manually define a slice intersecting the aorta. A technique of automatically detecting a position of the aorta is known. The method involves defining a plurality of axial planes in a body part containing a blood vessel to be detected, and detecting a position of a cross section of the aorta for each axial plane. Therefore, by using the prior art technique, it is possible to reduce the operator's workload.
As an example of the methods of imaging a subject using a contrast medium, there recently is a method of performing contrast imaging involving observing a bolus of the contrast medium at a position as close to the heart as possible. To enable observation of the bolus of the contrast medium at a position close to the heart, an operator manually defines a slice longitudinally cutting a blood vessel including the aortic arch in this method.
The blood vessel including the aortic arch, however, has a curved shape extending from the heart toward the back side, which is a complex shape. This poses a problem that it is difficult for the operator to manually define a slice. It may be contemplated to use the prior art detection technique in detecting a cross section of a blood vessel including the aortic arch. In the prior art method, however, an object to be detected is the aorta running along the backbone. The blood vessel including the aortic arch does not run along the backbone but does tortuously run from the heart toward the back side. This poses a problem, in that it is difficult to detect a blood vessel including the aortic arch by the prior art method.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a technique capable of detecting a blood vessel that is difficult to detect in prior art techniques.